Captured AFU militant says he went to fight because of low wages

A captured serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Dmytro Derevyankin, has said that he signed a contract due to a lack of funds from his salary. A video of his story was published by the Russian Defense Ministry on January 10.

"[I served] two and a half years of compulsory service, then signed a contract because my salary of 400 hryvnias (about 970 rubles. - Ed.) was not enough," he said.

Derevyankin said that he was sent from Sumy region to Kursk region together with other AFU fighters. The Russian army destroyed their equipment, but the Ukrainian command ordered them to continue the offensive rather than retreat.

"We got into the Kursk region, [Russian servicemen] hit our equipment, we went into a landing from there, then we were given the task to go further <...>," the fighter reported.

The AFU captive called on the Ukrainian military to leave the service, claiming that they would be "sent to slaughter." As for his stay in captivity with the Russian Armed Forces (AFU), he noted that they are fed, cared for and provided with medical care.

Earlier, on January 5, AFU prisoner Volodymyr Samorochenko from Dnipropetrovsk Region said that he had been forcibly seized by employees of the territorial manning center (TCC, an analog of the military recruitment office in Ukraine) and then sent for slaughter at positions in the Kursk border region. According to him, when he was wounded, there was no more food or water, they could not even get ammunition and provisions.

Last April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024) signed a law on toughening mobilization. In particular, he lowered the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 and signed a law on the creation of an electronic register of persons liable for military service. There are no provisions on demobilization in the documents.

Martial law in the country has been in force since February 2022. At the same time Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended its effect. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden to leave the country.